The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-03-10
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE BROOKLYN DlVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject; "The Swelling of Jordan"

and hey hare ipearied thee, then ho,o canst
Hou contend lcih horses? aud If in the land
fpedce, rherein thou hustedSt, they ,eearied
thee, then hOlC lcW thou do IN the slceilin0 Of
JordoNF'-Jeremah xii, ),
Not in petulant, but in kindly terms
must complain that wrong has been done
me and the cause of honest journalism by
pretended sermon that is going the rounds OF
hundreds of papers with my name appended;
a sermon entitled; FRAUDS Detected;N text,
Numbers, Oh. -, v, %; but il ye will not
do 50, behold, ye have sinned against the
Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out"
Not one sentence of that pretended sermon
did preach, II this We're the only otfense
of the kind | would not speak of it, Such a
fraud is not only wrong to me but to the
gentlemen who, at these tables, Sabbath by
Sabbath, take accurate report Of what is said
and done; and is n gross wrong to the two
thousand newspapers which give my sermon
i'll full to their readers, and often at great ex-
pense to themselves. The only fault | have
to find with the newspaper press of this coun-
try is That they treat me too well. But
cannot be made responsible for entire SER
mons, not one word of which did preach!
But now turn from personal explanation to
The more important subject of the text,
jeremiah had become impatient with his
troubles God says to him; "lf you cannot
stand these small trials and prosecutions, what
are You going to do when the greater trials
running race with footmen and they have
beaten you what chance is there that you
will outrun horses" And then the figure Is
changed. You know, in April and May, the
Jordan overlows its banks, and the waters
rush violently on, sweeping everything before
them And tod says to the prophet: IF
you are overcome with smaller trials and
vexations which have assaulted you, what
will will you do when the trials and annoy
ance and prosecutions of life come in a
freshettn "If in the land of peace wherein
thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how
wilt thou do in the swelling of JordanN
/ PROPOSE if God will help me, in very
practical way to ask, if it is such difficult
thing to get along without the religion of Je-
sus Christ, when things arc comparatively
smooth what will we do without Christ amid
the overpouring misfortuneS and disasters of
life that may come upon u.s. If troubles,
slow as footmen, surpass us, what will we do
when they take the feet of horses! And if
now in our lifetime we are beaten back and
submerged of sorrows because we have not
the religion of Jesus to comfort us, what will
we do when we stand in death, and we feel
all around about us 1.-The swelling of Jordan,n
The fact that you have come here my brother,
my sister, shows that you have some
things you believe in common with
myself. You believe that there is God.
There is not an Atheist in all this house. l
do not believe there ever was real Atheist
deck bound for Egypt. 1t was a bright
Starry night, and as he paced the deck, think
ing of the great affairs of the State and of
the battle, he heard two men on the deck in
conversation about God; one saying there
was God and the other saying there was
none. Napoleon stopped and looked up at
the starry heavens, and then he turned to
these men i'll conversation, and said: Gentle
men, | heard one of you say there was no
God; if there is no God will you please to tell
me who made all that Ay, if you had not
been persuaded of it before YOU are
persuaded Of it now; for the shining heavens
declare the glory of God and the earth shows
His handiwork. But you believe more than
that; you believe that there was Jesus; you
believe that there was Gross; you believe
that you have an immortal SOUL you believe
that it must be regenerated by the spirit of
God, or you can never dwell in bliss eternal
think great many of you will say that you
believe it is important to have the religion of
Jesus Christ every day of onr life to smooth
our tempers and purify our minds, and hold
us imperturbable amid all the annoyance and
vexat.ons of life, You and l have seen so
many men trampled down by misfortunes
because they had no faith in Jesus, and you
say TO yourself: "lf they were so easily
overcome by the trials of life, what will
1t be when greater msfortunes come
upon them - heart-breaking calamities, tire
mendous griefsM Oh, if we have no God
look upon the graves Of our children, and our
houses are desolate, what will become of u.s.
What sad thing it is to see men, all un-
helped of God, going out to fight giants Of
trouble; no closet of prayer in which to re-
treat, no promise OF mercy to soothe the soul
no rock of refuge in which to hide from the
blast Oh, when the swift coursers of trouble
are brought up champing and painting fol-
the race, and the leinS are thrown upon theil
necks, and the lathered tanks at every spring
feel the stroke of the LASH what can we do OF
foot with them: How can we compete witt
them: If, having run with the footmen, they
Wearied us, how can we contend with horses
We have all yielded to temptation. We
have been surprised afterward that so small
an inducement could have deceived us from
the right. How Insignificant a temptation
has sometimes captured our soul! And i
that is so, my dear brother, what will 1t b.
when we come to stand in the presence Of
temptation that Frustrated David, and
Moses and a Peter, and some of the mighties
men i'll all Gods kingdom! Now we arr
honest; but suppose we were placed in som,
path of life, as many of Gods children hav,
BEEN where al the forces of earth and hel
combine to capture the soul7 Without Jesus
we would goo down under it. If already we have
been beaten by insignificant footmen, we
would be distanced ten thousand leagues by
the horses. All, | don't like to hear a man
say: Il could not commit such sin as that
can't understand how man could be car
ried away like that" You don't know wha
you could do if the grace of God left you. YOU
know what John Bunyan said when he saw {
man staggering along the street, thoroughly
embruted in his habits He said: "Thert
goes John Bunyan, but for the grace of God,
can say when [ see one utterly fallen
There goes Dewitt Talmage, but for thu
grace Of God' If we have been delivered
from temptation it is because the strong arm
of the Lord Almighty has been abou
us, and not because we were any better thar
they 1t is great folly to borrow trouble
If we can meet the misfortunes of to-day, w
will be able to meet the troubles of tomor
row; but suppose now if through a lack o
the religion of Jesus, we are overthrow b,
small sorrows, does not our common sens
teach us that we cannot stand up agains
great ones! If we cannot carry pound cal
we carry thousand pounds! If we are discom
fitted coming into battle with one regiment,
brigade Will cut us to pieces. If we are unfi
to cope with one small trial, won't we b
overcome by greater ones! If the footmel
are too much for us, won't the odds be NOR
fearful against us when we contend wit
horses! THANK God that some of His dea
children have been delivered How was
that Paul could say: "Sorrowful, yet Away
rejoicing poor, yet making many rich; hay
ing nothing, yet possessing all thingsf An
David, the psalmist scars up into the rock c
Gods strength and becomes thoroughly con
posed amid all his sorrows, saying: 'God
our refuge and strength, very present hel
in the time of trouble; therefore will not W
fear though the earth be removed, though tn
mountains be cast into the midst of the SCI
though the waters thereof roar and be trol
bled, though the mountain shake with til
swelling thereof. Selah.n
But my text suggests something in advanc
of anything | have said. We must all gu
this life. However sound our health may b.
it must break down; however good our tit
may be to houses, land, and estates we mu
surrender them. We will hear a voice bi,
ding us away from all these places We wi
have to start on pilgrimage from which "
can never come back. We will have seen fC
the last time the evening star, aud watche
une last summer CLOUD, ana reIt the breath
the spring wind for the last time Hands
loved ones may be stretched out to hold
back, but they cannot-go we must Abo
all other exits and chances we may trifle. b,
not about this Stupendous moment of lif
quitting. Oh, when the great tides
eternity arise about us, and fill the so
and surround it, and sweep it out towa
rapture Or woe, ah that will be the swelling
Jordanm ] know people sometimns talk yer
dor ort,, a.;